Hello, readers! Welcome to The Catalyst – the next evolution of the CHT newsletter you’ve been reading. Today, we’re crystallizing a shift in the newsletter that we’ve been building up to the past months. Here’s what’s new.
WHAT'S CHANGING
When we launched our newsletter, it was a way to keep you informed of what was happening at Center for Humane Technology (CHT). But over time we recognized a bigger opportunity to provide insight into the evolving technology ecosystem.
Our goal for The Catalyst is to do just that: provide substantive insights into technology at a systems level, touching on culture, economics, policy, individual and collective agency, and more. We seek to inform, equip, and (we hope) inspire you to take action — in a way that catalyzes a more humane future.
WHAT TO EXPECT
We’ll unpack frameworks, principles, and case studies to help you understand the underlying root causes of extractive technology and the foundations of humane technology. We’ll also share the latest resources for technologists, policymakers, educators, and everyday leaders. And, by popular demand, we’re keeping our “What we’re reading, listening to, and watching”section — or as one reader calls it, “an info snack.”
We want The Catalyst to be worthy of your attention. That’s a high bar, but we’ll do our best. To support that, we’ll email you just once or twice a month.
A BROADER SCOPE
Many of you found us through The Social Dilemma, which helped millions understand social media’s extractive business model. But over time, it has become clearer that we live in a world where expanding and interlocking crises are being driven by an extractive and unsustainable operating model of endless growth. So while social media is particularly harmful, much of today’s technology interconnects in a way that accelerates existing harms, breaking down our shared humanity, our communities, our planet, and our very sense of reality.
This realization has widened CHT’s focus from tech harms to the runaway, underlying systems that perpetuate these harms. We now ask ourselves:
What does a humane future look like?
How can we support those working to catalyze change?
Learn more → "Here’s Our Plan And We Don’t Know" tells the story of this expanded view.
A HUMAN HELLO
In the spirit of a humane touch, we wanted to introduce ourselves, the humans creating The Catalyst newsletter.
Camille Carlton and Maria Bridge co-create The Catalyst, drawing insights and inspiration from the field, our readers, and the CHT team. We’re delighted to bring you a synthesized view of CHT’s latest take on a rapidly evolving ecosystem.
Read more → Q&A with Camille & Maria
A closing commitment. We care deeply about reimagining a more humane world that centers on values, narrows gaps of inequity, and helps people thrive. As such, we promise to do our human best to:
- Point you to experts.
- Amplify voices that may get missed.
- Be thoughtful in our writing, which means selectively responding to current events.
We look forward to learning with you,
Camille and Maria
WHAT WE'RE READING, LISTENING TO, & WATCHING
On Surveillance Capitalism
The EU Digital Service Act (DSA), which includes restrictions on what data and how users’ data can be used in targeted ads (Article 24) was given initial approval by EU Parliament last week.
In the U.S., Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced The Banning Surveillance Advertising Act and Accountable Tech submitted a rulemaking petition to the FTC to ban surveillance advertising, which was supported by dozens of key stakeholders, including CHT.
For reading on why these movements are important, we recommend, It’s the Business Model, by Nathalie Maréchal and Ellery Roberts Biddle from Ranking Digital Rights. The series dives into the connection between surveillance capitalism and the health of democracy and offers thoughts on what a better tech framework could look like.
On Art, NFTs, and Attention
In an artist in crypto, Wendi Yan offers a personal retelling of her journey creating and examining art in the crypto universe, exploring how the need to get attention runs counter to the creative process itself — and the systemic power structures in a “decentralized” system. She reflects in an authentically nuanced way on her fear of “the loss of authenticity, intentionality, and, most importantly, respect for attention, in the conception of “art” in people’s minds.”
On Antitrust
The US perspective on antitrust is changing. As Casey Newton writes, when it comes to Big Tech, the narrow concept of antitrust (market size, barriers to entry, etc.) is being met with a new broader perspective that simply says Big Tech has too much power.
This shift is demonstrated in The American Innovation and Choice Online Act which would help break down Big Tech’s embedded, systemic power by restricting practices that uphold it – such as self preferencing and limiting interoperability. The bill is a significant step towards regulation that can shift Big Tech’s operating paradigm, especially since it has bipartisan support.
